Tags:
Journalism of Courage
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Nicholas Kharkongor
Playwright |
TO the all-too-few star-calibre Indian playwrights working in English, here8217;s a welcome addition: Nicholas Kharkongor. After marking his debut with To Each His Own, in which he also starred in the lead role of Rahul, Kharkongor went on to produce Come as You Were and Feel Good, a series of short skits directed by Sita Raina. But right now, he8217;s working on arguably the hottest property in theatre circles: The yet-untitled play, to be directed by Roysten Abel and premiere in December, is slated to feature Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and Zohra Seghal.
That8217;s an inspiring line-up all right, but Kharkongor says that so far as his writing is concerned, there is no single spark of inspiration that he can point to. 8216;8216;I remember Vikram Seth being quoted as saying that the inspiration for An Equal Music came when he saw a man on a bridge. But unlike Seth I have no moments when a story comes to me,8217;8217; says 27-year-old Kharkongor.
While unwilling to disclose much about his new play, save that it is a look at the 8216;8216;upper middle-class8217;s deafening silence on the Gujarat riots,8217;8217; Kharkongor admits that working with Abel was a 8216;8216;different, though fantastic, experience. The work started two months ago and at that time, we would meet every three days. I think my strength is that I write lines well but I8217;m not so good with ideas. Roysten, on the other hand, is fabulous with ideas. He8217;ll take a situation, think it through and add layers to the play.8217;8217;
The consultative process, however, is something new for Kharkongor. 8216;8216;For Come As You Were, I took the initial idea 8212; of five friends meeting in a lodge after 10 years 8212; from a friend but after that it was all me. Through a north-eastern character called Imti, I brought out the stereotypes that most people from the region have to face in Delhi. The first was at the crude 8216;Chinky Chinky8217; level. The second was more subtle, derived from what people have told me at parties. For instance, I remember a guy telling me, 8216;A friend of mine is doing very well in his business8230; and he8217;s from the North-East8217;,8217;8217; says the playwright, who has been living in the Capital for the past six years.
After working out the main issues, Kharkongor says he puts in 12-14 hours a day for about 15 days for the basic writing of the play. 8216;8216;But before I prepare the scenes, I do two things: One is a detailed biography of my characters, right from the time they are born, their relatives, what they like to eat, what they think about sitting on the toilet, everything. That8217;s one reason I like dealing with a few characters 8212; otherwise things get out of hand. Again, from the biographies, I work out the relationship between any two characters. That leads into the play.8217;8217;
